Your mind is a muscle, too. So work it!

We are forever being told about the limitless benefits of regular exercise: of gaining strength; of making the blood pump round our bodies; of building fitness levels. But what if we could apply the same rules to our minds? What if the principles we use to keep our bodies shipshape could also maintain our mental health?

Well, it seems they can, according to psychotherapist and mental health consultant Zoë Aston, whose book

Your Mental Health Workout:

A 5 Week Programme to a Healthier, Happier Mind* has been published this week. As a child Zoë was bullied, suffered from a debilitating eating disorder and self-harmed. While she was lucky enough to be able to access professional help, she wonders what might have happened if she hadn’t. Now, as a mental health professional, she is passionate about ‘taking therapy out of the therapy room’, as she puts it, and equipping people with the right mental health tools to use at home.

Zoë is not knocking professional help, but thinks that we all need a mental health toolkit in our back pocket. She believes (as do I) that we should be taught the basics of good mental wellbeing in school. ‘I want to supply the kit and skills required to cope with difficult life transitions, to understand and adjust to unhelpful or self-destructive behaviours. I want to make your mind a happier place,’ she says.

Some self-help books can be a daunting, confusing and thoroughly uninspiring read. However, Zoë has brilliantly structured hers like a workout plan after it dawned on her that there was a parallel between the exercises she was doing in the gym, and the internal work she had done on herself. She realised that both physical and mental plans require commitment, consistency and responsibility in order to gain results.

Zoë believes we should be flexing our mind muscles daily if we want to stay on top of our mental health, just as we plan fitness or keep a tally on our five a day. Your Mental Health Workout is therefore an easy, actionable five-week plan designed for anyone, no matter your age or state of mental health.

Zoë stresses that you don’t have to be in dire straits in order to try it: ‘Some people might live their entire lives feeling a little bit anxious,’ she says. This is as much for them as it is for someone feeling mentally ill and is perfect for anyone feeling below par post-pandemic.

Zoë’s programme (see right) features a mental warm-up, followed by four weekly workouts (therapy, social events, exercise and self-care) and four daily workouts (mindfulness, connection, appreciation and movement). There’s a worksheet to keep you on track with your goals – all it takes (like any exercise plan) is some commitment. But just like a 30-day plank challenge or Couch to 5k, if you do commit results are guaranteed.

WE ALL NEED A MENTAL HEALTH TOOLKIT IN OUR BACK POCKET